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Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China

Soil erosion has been a common environmental problem in the Loess Plateau in China. This study aims to better understand the losses of soil organic carbon (SOC) induced by water erosion. Laboratory-simulated rainfall experiments were conducted to investigate the characteristics of SOC loss induced b...

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Autores principales: Li, Zhongwu, Nie, Xiaodong, Chang, Xiaofeng, Liu, Lin, Sun, Liying
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4849789/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27124482
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154591
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author Li, Zhongwu
Nie, Xiaodong
Chang, Xiaofeng
Liu, Lin
Sun, Liying
author_facet Li, Zhongwu
Nie, Xiaodong
Chang, Xiaofeng
Liu, Lin
Sun, Liying
author_sort Li, Zhongwu
collection PubMed
description Soil erosion has been a common environmental problem in the Loess Plateau in China. This study aims to better understand the losses of soil organic carbon (SOC) induced by water erosion. Laboratory-simulated rainfall experiments were conducted to investigate the characteristics of SOC loss induced by water erosion. The applied treatments included two rainfall intensities (90 and 120 mm h(-1)), four slope gradients (10°, 15°, 20°, and 25°), and two typical soil types- silty clay loam and silty loam. Results showed that the sediment OC enrichment ratios (ERoc) in all the events were relative stable with values ranged from 0.85 to1.21 and 0.64 to 1.52 and mean values of 0.98 and 1.01 for silty clay loam and silty loam, respectively. Similar to the ERoc, the proportions of different sized particles in sediment showed tiny variations during erosion processes. No significant correlation was observed between ERoc values and the proportions of sediment particles. Slope, rainfall intensity and soil type almost had no impact on ERoc. These results indicate that the transportation of SOC during erosion processes was nonselective. While the mean SOC loss rates for the events of silty clay loam and silty loam were 0.30 and 0.08 g m(-2) min(-1), respectively. Greater differences in SOC loss rates were found in events among different soil types. Meanwhile, significant correlations between SOC loss and soil loss for all the events were observed. These results indicated that the amount of SOC loss was influenced primarily by soil loss and the SOC content of the original soil. Erosion pattern and original SOC content are two main factors by which different soils can influence SOC loss. It seems that soil type has a greater impact on SOC loss than rainfall characteristics on the Loess Plateau of China. However, more kinds of soils should be further studied due to the special formation processes in the Loess Plateau.
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spelling pubmed-48497892016-05-07 Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China Li, Zhongwu Nie, Xiaodong Chang, Xiaofeng Liu, Lin Sun, Liying PLoS One Research Article Soil erosion has been a common environmental problem in the Loess Plateau in China. This study aims to better understand the losses of soil organic carbon (SOC) induced by water erosion. Laboratory-simulated rainfall experiments were conducted to investigate the characteristics of SOC loss induced by water erosion. The applied treatments included two rainfall intensities (90 and 120 mm h(-1)), four slope gradients (10°, 15°, 20°, and 25°), and two typical soil types- silty clay loam and silty loam. Results showed that the sediment OC enrichment ratios (ERoc) in all the events were relative stable with values ranged from 0.85 to1.21 and 0.64 to 1.52 and mean values of 0.98 and 1.01 for silty clay loam and silty loam, respectively. Similar to the ERoc, the proportions of different sized particles in sediment showed tiny variations during erosion processes. No significant correlation was observed between ERoc values and the proportions of sediment particles. Slope, rainfall intensity and soil type almost had no impact on ERoc. These results indicate that the transportation of SOC during erosion processes was nonselective. While the mean SOC loss rates for the events of silty clay loam and silty loam were 0.30 and 0.08 g m(-2) min(-1), respectively. Greater differences in SOC loss rates were found in events among different soil types. Meanwhile, significant correlations between SOC loss and soil loss for all the events were observed. These results indicated that the amount of SOC loss was influenced primarily by soil loss and the SOC content of the original soil. Erosion pattern and original SOC content are two main factors by which different soils can influence SOC loss. It seems that soil type has a greater impact on SOC loss than rainfall characteristics on the Loess Plateau of China. However, more kinds of soils should be further studied due to the special formation processes in the Loess Plateau. Public Library of Science 2016-04-28 /pmc/articles/PMC4849789/ /pubmed/27124482 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154591 Text en © 2016 Li et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Li, Zhongwu
Nie, Xiaodong
Chang, Xiaofeng
Liu, Lin
Sun, Liying
Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China
title Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China
title_full Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China
title_fullStr Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China
title_full_unstemmed Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China
title_short Characteristics of Soil and Organic Carbon Loss Induced by Water Erosion on the Loess Plateau in China
title_sort characteristics of soil and organic carbon loss induced by water erosion on the loess plateau in china
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4849789/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27124482
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154591
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